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Paris Denies the Transfer of the Latest Akeron MP ATGM to Ukraine

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The Akeron MP / Illustrative photo from open sources
The Akeron MP / Illustrative photo from open sources

The Akeron MP ATGM belongs to the fifth generation anti-tank missile systems, but it is still being delivered at a rather slow pace even to the French Armed Forces

Despite the fact that in an interview with Opex News the vice-president of the Commission for National Defense and the Armed Forces of France, Jean-Louis Thiereau, reported that the Akeron MP ATGM is being transferred to Ukraine, the country's Ministry of Defense denied this information.

In particular, Opex News published a refutation of the previous information, although it should be noted that the transfer of these ATGMs would be quite strange.

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That’s due to the fact that there are not so many of them in France itself. The delivery of this ATGM to the French Army started only in 2017, and in November 2021, the manufacturer MBDA announced the delivery of the 1,000th Akeron MP missile. At the beginning of 2023 it became known about the order for an additional 200 missiles.

Taking into account that this is a full-fledged ATGM with a reusable launcher, the launchers themselves were manufactured many times less, perhaps there are several hundred of them overall. And therefore the transfer of these anti-tank systems in any significant amount was doubtful.

But this does not exclude the fact that the French Ministry of Defense, only in theory and within the limits of speculation could be interested in evaluating the ATGM itself in combat conditions. However, there is no need to transfer hundreds of ATGMs.

Defense Express reminds that the Akeron MP, which was previously known as MMP (Missile Moyenne Portée), was manufactured in 2009, its testing began in 2014. Serial production started in 2017 and it should replace the outdated Milan in the French Army.

The capabilities of the Akeron MP allows to hit targets at a range of up to 5 km, although the requirements of the French military were less than one kilometer. Guidance can be carried out in three modes: "shoot and forget", "shoot-provide" (Man In The Loop), as well as out of line of sight (NLOS) using external targeting.

The homing head with a wide field of view is combined and can work in the infrared and optical ranges, which allows capturing even non-contrast targets in the thermal range. The information is transmitted through a fiber optic cable during manual control throughout the entire flight. The trajectory of the missile can be changed: either hit from the top or a direct hit.

The armor penetration of a tandem combat unit with a total weight of about 2 kg is up to 1000 mm of homogeneous armor without dynamic protection. The combat unit has two modes: for armored vehicles destruction and for the destruction of fortifications. The total weight of the ATGM is 15 kg, of which 4 kg is the missile itself. Such Akeron MP specifications allow MBDA to say that it is the only representative of the fifth generation ATGM.

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